


The Price of Heroics

by VampirePaladin



Category: Final Fantasy X-2
Genre: Childhood, Eye Trauma, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-16
Updated: 2014-05-16
Packaged: 2018-01-25 00:08:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1621955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VampirePaladin/pseuds/VampirePaladin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gippal could have let someone else rescue them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Price of Heroics

**Author's Note:**

  * For [godsbow_lithium](https://archiveofourown.org/users/godsbow_lithium/gifts).



Gippal was in an artificial cave just outside of Home. It was always cool inside no matter how hot it was outside, but became unbearably cold at night. Spread out in front of him was a book about the Crusaders. It was the newest one about them in Home, only about two years old. Gippal had already read it many times.

“I thought I’d find you in here,” Nhadala said in Al Bhed as she climbed in the small opening, shutting the metal gate behind her. She automatically gave a small shake to get the worst of the sand off of her. 

“I just thought I’d take a chance to read before someone decided it was time to get back to class.”

“How many times have you read that now? Three? Four?”

“I’ve lost count.” He closed the book and put it in a large pocket on the legs of his pants, zipping it closed.

“You do know that Al Bhed can’t become Crusaders, don’t you?”

“Yeah, I know. There’s just something about them that I feel drawn to.”

Together the two of them crawled outside of the artificial cave. Once they were outside and the gate was shut it was almost impossible to tell that there was anything there other than a pile of sand. The camouflage was practically perfect. It was one of multiple such caves that could be used both as an outpost and as a supply depot should an attack ever come from Yevon. It being the Calm, the chance of attack was very low.

“Is that Rikku?” Nhadala asked.

Gippal turned in the direction that Nhadala was looking in. He hadn’t brought his goggles with him, so it was hard to see against the monochrome sand and the bright sun. It was only after he brought a hand up to shade his eyes and he squinted that he was able to see Rikku. She was running toward them, waving her arms back and forth.

“I thought she was supposed to be going to the beach with Brother and Buddy today?” Gippal frowned. This wasn’t looking very good at all. “Come on,” he said as he broke into a run.

Nhadala was right behind him. They were older and dressed properly for the desert so they moved faster than Rikku, who was wearing sandals and beach clothing. When they reached Rikku she was breathing heavily. Her face was red from exertion and sunburn.

“Rikku, what happened?” Nhadala asked. She was trying to make it sound less like an order.

“Rogue machina attacked us at the beach. Brother and Buddy are trapped. I wanted to help them but Brother told me to go get help.”

“You ran all the way here from the beach.” Gippal had to admit that he was impressed with Cid’s little girl.

She nodded.

Gippal made his choice. He turned to look at Nhadala and said, “You take Rikku back Home and get adults. I’ll go help Brother and Buddy.”

“I can fight too,” Rikku cried.

“Time to go,” Nhadala said as she scooped the small girl up and started running Home.

Gippal could hear Rikku screaming as he turned and ran for the beach. The sun quickly heated his body up and drove any chill that might have remained from the cave. It was hard to run properly with the sand always shifting underfoot. He almost fell more times than he could count. Each time he would make a last moment twist or catch himself just in time. The thought of sitting on the ground with a twisted or broken ankle while his friends could be dead or dying pushed him to run faster, to take more chances than he would have otherwise and pushed him to try harder at protecting himself when he did fall.

He finally crested a sand dune and there was the beach. It was not easy to tell where the sands of the desert and the sands of the beach met. There were a few plants on the coast, it is why so many Al Bhed children loved visiting the beach. There was a large rock sticking out of the sand like it had been dropped there by a lazy giant. Normally, it provided shade and a good place for a picnic lunch. Right now Buddy and Brother were trapped with their backs against it. They were surrounded by machina. Two of the machinas were slumped onto the ground, sparks flying from their ruined engines. Buddy and Brother were each armed with a leg from destroyed machinas that they swung around in wide arcs, keeping the other three at bay for the moment.

“Hey, uglies, come get me!” Gippal yelled as he slid down the side of the dune.

Optical units turned to focus on the new intruder. Faulty circuits gauged Gippal’s threat level. There may have been two of Buddy and Brother, but they didn’t have any tools or weapons on them. Gippal could feasibly be carrying some in the many pockets and folds of his clothing. The remaining four machina turned their bodies around without losing sight of Gippal and in perfect synchronization advanced on him.

Gippal ran toward them and threw his body onto the first one. He knew how to take apart a machina. All he had to do was to pull out the right component. He could see the component he needed to remove. With a few modifications it would make an excellent grenade. Gippal reached his hand inside the machina’s inner workings. The right side of his face was pressed against jagged metal. It painfully pushed into his skin.

The machina bucked, trying to throw him off of it. Gippal screamed as the right side of his face hit jagged metal. It hurt so much. He was seeing stars on his right side. 

His fingers touched the familiar metal. With a hard yank he pulled out the component and the machina stopped as if it was an animal that suddenly lost its heart. Gippal pulled a wire and reattached it on the opposite side before throwing his new grenade at the remaining three machinas.

The explosion knocked him out.

**Author's Note:**

> Request 3  
> Fandom(s): Final Fantasy X-2  
> Request:  
> I absolutely love Gippal as a character. He seems like someone who puts on a big act and comes across as incredibly extroverted, but that is to protect something vulnerable deep inside. Maybe how he lost his eye? Or something else dark in his past as part of a persecuted minority? I would just love a good 'show, not tell' exploration of why Gippal is the way he is. I want to see the skeletons in his closet, his hidden longings, his pain, all of it. The only thing I do NOT want to see is Gippal/Rikku. Please, please, please no. Gippal/Baralai, however, is awesome.


End file.
